The Beast Plain is a strange place. There
are no monsters native to it, but most opponents that the party has
already beaten elsewhere, or encountered and run from, or even
lost to without getting a Game Over (occassionally possible) can
show up here (see the Veldt section in Terii Senshi's Algorithms
FAQ on GameFAQs
for details). Combat gives no experience points here, but all
other battle rewards still apply. This makes it a useful place to
collect supplies and such without gaining levels. It's also handy for
farming items from several monsters that otherwise appear only
once (the Green Beret from a Satellite, to give an early
example).

1-17 "Wild West" plays all over
the area, even during battles. Sooner or later, after one battle or
another, the boy they saw
earlier suddenly appears.

ウウウ…… はらへった……

Oooo... Hungry...

Ooh...I'm hungry!

They toss him some Jerky from
the village. He hops over and stares at them.

{マッシュ}
「な なんだよ

{Mash}:
Wh-what's with you?

{SABIN}:
What the......

{カイエン}
「みょうなやつで、ござる！！

{Cayenne}:
Thou art a strange one!!

{CYAN}:
Thou are so......odd.

{カイエン}
「せっしゃは、{カイエン}
で、こっちが {マッシュ}

{Cayenne}:
I am {Cayenne}.
And this be {Mash}.

{CYAN}:
I'm {CYAN} and he's {SABIN}.

{ガウ}
「{マッシュ}に{カイエン}か
もっと くいもの くれ

{Gau}:
{Mash} and {Cayenne}, huh.
Give more food.

{GAU}:
You {SABIN}...... you {CYAN},
me want more food!!

{マッシュ}
「もう、ねえよ

{Mash}:
Ain't got any more.

{SABIN}:
No more for you.

{ガウ}
「じゃあ さがしてこい

{Gau}:
Then go find.

{GAU}:
You go......get more for me.

{マッシュ}
「おまえ、ちいさいな

{Mash}:
You're pretty scrawny.

{SABIN}:
You're a regular munchkin!

{ガウ}
「おまえ こわいんだろ？

{Gau}:
You scary, huh?

{GAU}:
And you......afraid of me!

This could go either way with scary/scared,
I think, but Mash certainly seems to be acting like it's Gau who
should be intimidated by him.

{マッシュ}
「やるのか？

{Mash}:
Wanna fight?

{SABIN}:
You wanna fight?

{ガウ}
「ついてこれればな！

{Gau}:
If you can keep up!

{GAU}:
Me not wanna hurt you......

{マッシュ}
「あまく、みるなよ！

{Mash}:
Don't take me lightly!

{SABIN}:
Stop looking at me like that!

They wrestle around, while Cayenne
just stands there and watches.

{マッシュ}
「ぜえぜえ！
なかなか、やるじゃねえか！

{Mash}:
*puff* *puff*!
Hey, you're not half bad!

{SABIN}:
Wheeze......puff......!
You're pretty tough!

{ガウ}
「はあはあ！
おまえ すごい！

{Gau}:
*pant* *pant*!
You real good!

{GAU}:
Wah, ha!
That fun! You strong!

They wrestle around some more. Gau hops
away and it takes Mash a few seconds to notice he's not wrestling anyone
anymore.

While Gau actually imitates
でござる (de gozaru), Cayenne's
archaic way of saying です (desu,
roughly equivalent to "is"), the English works
out more cleanly when using "thou". I tried
going with "art", but it just doesn't work.

Gau starts hopping around, yelling.

{ガウ}
「ござる！ ござる！

{Gau}:
Thou! Thou!

{GAU}:
Thou! Thou!

{ガウ}
「ござる！ ござる！

{Gau}:
Thou! Thou!

{GAU}:
Thou! Thou!

{ガウ}
「ござる！ ござる！

{Gau}:
Thou! Thou!

{GAU}:
Thou! Thou!

{ガウ}
「ござる！ ござる！

{Gau}:
Thou! Thou!

{GAU}:
Thou! Thou!

In the middle of this, Cayenne turns around,
probably to help control his reaction.

{ガウ}
「おこった？

{Gau}:
You mad?

{GAU}:
You angry?

{ガウ}
「{カイエン}！
おこったのか？

{Gau}:
{Cayenne}!
You get mad?

{GAU}:
{CYAN}!
You angry......me?

{ガウ}
「{カイエン}！
おこったのか？

{Gau}:
{Cayenne}!
You get mad?

{GAU}:
{CYAN}!
You angry......me?

{ガウ}
「{カイエン}！
おこったのか？

{Gau}:
{Cayenne}!
You get mad?

{GAU}:
{CYAN}!
You angry......me?

Mash gets sick of this and pulls him off to the side.

{マッシュ}
「じつは
かくかく しかじか
なんだ……

{Mash}:
Actually,
(blah blah yadda yadda),
you see...

{SABIN}:
Listen, his family was just......

Apparently, Mash is supposed to be
explaining the situation, and doing it this way avoids a recap.

The NA version is pretty badly skewed, but
I have to admit it took me longer than it should have to realize what Gau's talking
about. It's actually quite simple.

Mash and Cayenne are standing some distance apart.
What Gau's saying is that, if Mobliz is where Mash is standing, and the riverbank
where they washed up is where Cayenne's standing, then the mountain with the
treasure is where he is. In other words, he's using their relative positions to map
out where to go. He may be uncivilized, but he's hardly stupid...

{Mash}:
Phew... yeesh, now there's a
pain in the ass in the group.
......

{SABIN}:
Phew......why'd we invite him
along anyway...?

Gau moonwalks back onto the screen.

{ガウ}
「ござる！ はやくこい！
おいてくぞ！！

{Gau}:
Thou! Come quick!
Leaving you behind!!

{GAU}:
Mr. Thou! Hurry up!
We're leaving!!

{マッシュ}
「だから、ござるじゃないって
言ってるだろ、ござるじゃないって……

{Mash}:
I TOLD you, I'm not Thou,
Thou's not me...

{SABIN}:
Hey! I told you once,
I'm not Mr. Thou!!!

I don't doubt Gau knows perfectly well who
"Thou" is, but he's equally aware that he's getting on
Mash's nerves by "mistakenly" attaching it to the wrong
person, and he seems to enjoy provoking Mash.

Mash chases Gau off the screen. And then, 2-6
"Spinach Rag", which sounds like a piano piece out of the
early 20th century or so, starts playing, and a green vaguely humanoid
creature walks on to explain Gau's skills...

カッパ
「えー、{ガウ}の育て方の
説明をさせてもらいます。

Kappa:
Hokay, now let me explain
how to build up {Gau}.

KAPPA:
Here's how to build up
{GAU}'s skills.

１ 獣ケ原でしか使えないコマンド
「とびこむ」を選びます

1) Select the command Leap,
unusable outside of the Beast Plain.

1. Choose "Leap", a command
that only appears when you
are on the Veldt.

２ 獣ケ原で、バトルをつづけると、
ひょっこり現われてパーティーに
入ります

2) If you keep fighting on the Beast
Plain, he will pop up at random
and join the party.

2. Keep fighting on the Veldt,
and {GAU} will reappear.
He will have learned the...

３ すると、飛び込んだシーンと、
現われたシーンのモンスターを
ほとんど覚えます

3) He will then memorize just about every
monster from the scene when he leapt
and the scene when he appeared.

3. ...attacks of the monsters
you were fighting when he
leapt and returned!

The Kappa has been imitating Gau's actions,
and now looks like Gau and does an impersonation.

「がうー！！

Gauuu!!

Uwaau~!!

「がうー！！

Gauuu!!

Uwaau~!!

４ コマンド「あばれる」で
覚えたモンスターのように
あばれることができます

4) He can use the Rage command
to go wild, acting like a monster
he has memorized.

4. Choose the command "Rage"
and you can use any of the
attacks he'd learned.

The Kappa changes back to itself.

「それでは、ゲームのつづきを
どうぞ。

And now, feel free to continue
the game.

And now, please continue your
quest!

The Kappa starts walking offscreen, trips and falls,
gets up and waves, and finishes leaving. I guess it's supposed to be funny.

Gau's commands work as explained; see his
character entry for details. One of the more useful
side effects is that many Rages allow Gau to cast spells without using any MP
and even without knowing the spell, though uncontrollably. Also, Gau takes on
the resistances and immunities (but also weaknesses and status effects) of the
monster he chooses, for as long as the Rage lasts (status effects may persist
even after battle, depending on the effect). It takes time and effort
to build up his skill list and learn which monsters work best, but
ultimately Gau can become an incredibly effective automated
powerhouse, especially once late-game equipment and
monsters become available.